Jacobus Sinapius

[3] By 1598, he started studying Aristotelian philosophy at the Clementinum college in Prague (which was later merged with Charles University), and at the same time oversaw the kitchen and pantry, but continued working in chemistry and pharmacy.

[2] Here he grew herbs and set up a laboratory at Smíchov (then a village behind Prague walls), the Clementinum's botanical garden.

[citation needed] There, or at the garden, he distilled a very popular aqua sinapis (German: sinapischen Wasser, both lit.

Subsequently, was exchanged for another prisoner (the famous physician Jessenius) and exiled, but later, after the failure of the Bohemian Revolt, he returned to Mělník and lived there the rest of his life.

Two days before his death he was moved to the Clementinum in the care of the Jesuits, and left them the sum of 50,000 gold coins and his Mělník estate.

Its attested provenance begins with him, since the story that it was owned by Emperor Rudolf II rests on a single piece of unsubstantiated hearsay, related second hand in a letter to Athanasius Kircher.